How does he do it?

People often ask Kent how he does what he does. How does he get so many interviews from so many people? How does he know who to ask what and how does he piece together their answers to describe the larger systems he examines?

The short answer is he is insatiably curious and driven by the need to get his questions answered regardless of the status of the people he approaches. The longer answer is that in the seventeen years he’s been a journalist he’s focused his attention on understanding how communities function in order to embed himself within them.

He describes what he does as “experiential journalism,” and what he means by that is that in order to truly understand something you have to become a part of it. To cover a space Kent studies the ecosystem of a community partially through their academic literature and largely through the conferences the community holds. Through one on one interviews conducted in person at those conferences Kent dives into the open questions and debates that drive the communities he covers and serves.

“Kent not only has interviewed anybody in the VR scene doing anything interesting, but he’s also created a significant body of knowledge around where we’re going in VR and what the real implications are. My favorite thing about listening to the podcast is how he’s able to take information from such a wide variety of sources and come up with connections and commonalities. His podcast is genuinely one of the most useful VR resources available now, and considering the current revitalization of VR, perhaps the most useful ever.”

-Timoni West, Unity Labs

Although he’s been embedding himself into communities since 2001 he is best known for the podcast he started in 2014, The Voices of VR. His background in engineering combined with a work history in videography and audio editing gives him a solid leg up when it comes to covering technology and he’s put it to good use on this podcast. Currently clocking in at over 700 interviews produced, The Voices of VR shows no signs of stopping and has recently been joined by podcasts covering math, artificial intelligence, and philosophy.